November 2015 - Now Showing - The Martian

It was date night for the mister and me and he was adamant that we see The Martian. He just read the book, loved it, and needed to see if the movie would hold up to what he read. Either way, I thought a night at Icon Cinema with those awesome seats - and they are awesome - all-you-can-eat popcorn and drink, and Matt Damon was an excellent evening. The Martian is an outer-space drama where Mark Watney, played by Damon, finds himself living on Mars after a storm hits the red planet, striking him with debris. and leaving his team to think he’s dead and leaves to survive. Once revived, Watney is left to figure out how to survive until the cavalry returns to bring him home.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, I heard reviewers compare The Martian to “Lost in Space meets Robinson Crusoe”, but this movie exceeded those two examples. Damon’s performance draws you in. Right off the bat you find yourself becoming friends with this character, which leaves you rooting for him to succeed and survive. The writing is excellent - smart with a sharp wit - but it has those moments that when you find yourself crying with the characters, laughing at the triumphs and light-hearted moments, and shouting at the times that NASA thinks more about appearance than saving a life. This movie had it all.

The movie also has an amazing cast. Jessica Chastain was a strong mission commander who made the decision to leave Watney behind. Chiwetel Ejiofor as Vincent Kapoor, NASA’s Director of Mars Operations, is another hit for Ejiofor. Kapoor works to create a rescue plan while dealing with resistance from NASA’s Chief, Teddy Sanders, played by the talented Jeff Daniels. But the one character who stood out to me was Rich Purnell, played by the hilarious Donald Glover. Purnell, the paranoid math genius becomes the one to come up with the working idea that brings Watney home and does it with humor along the way. The movie also includes acting talents Kristen Wiig, Michael Peña, Sean Bean, Kate Mara and Mackenzie Davis.

I left the theater feels full from the popcorn and soda and fulfilled with the ending. The movie not only left me happy with how everything was wrapped up, but loving NASA again, excited to see space exploration becoming a topic of importance. The film was bold, intelligent, and left us with some great quotes including “I’m left with only one option: I’m going to have to science the shit out of this.”